Friday, December 23, 2011

About afew weeks, I received a strangecopy of the bookMeteorology. I was surprisedbecause the bookisin Chinese! This bookIillustrateda few years ago(actuallyin 2009.), for thelocalpublisherCreative Center. AChinesepublisherbought the rightsfor theseries Find out and try, that containsmentionedbook-Meteorology.

Meteorology – Serbian and Chinese editions

From now, the Chinese kidswill have a chanceto enjoy inmyillustrations.I wonderhow theytranslated thetextin a balloons,because theillustrationsfull ofcomicdialogue, and I’m theauthorof all comicdialoguethat appearin the illustrations.

Mymost rigorouscritic– Katarina–shelikesChineseversion of the book

EditorsfromCreativecenterhad afewcomplaints, so there wascensoringsome balloontext and imagecontent.

Here area fewfunexamples of censorship:

The firstcensored illustrationin the book -Amishandtornado

Thisis the firstillustrationin the book.Myoriginalideawasthat the characters areAmish(it is mentioned explicitlyin a footnote of illustration) –Jakobsays thatas soon aspossibleheboughta TVto watchthe weather,despite the factthat theAmishdo not useelectronicdevices, and other"evilthings"of modern technology. Editorsdid not wanttoexplicitlysaythatthe charactersareAmish, but looking atthe illustration, it is obvious...

Totally rejected illustration – Charles Fort and falls of frogs

Anotherfunexampleof censorshipis the illustration with falls offrogs. Authorof the bookisnot likethis idea, as well as illustrationofCharles Fort,a famousresearcherintoweirdevents. Thisillustrationistotally rejected.

Illustrativeallusion to the TV soap seriesWounded Eagle

The third illustration exampleis actually an allusion toonedomestic (Serbian) idioticTVsoapnovel-Wounded Eagle -totallycrapthat wasbroadcast onSerbiannational television.Author of the book – Nedeljko Todorovic – he recognizedmyintention, and thecharacters name fromshittyseries,was rejectedfrom the dialogueof thisillustration… unfortunately…

"Witchescome fromancient times, when death was notdeath, andwhen theliving and the deadlived together… Forthese creaturesboundaries betweenworldswasporous – in the space,borderwasmarked with grave, and the timewith sunset."

Illustration # 1 / story Remedy against thewitches

"They say thatGod is powerfulbecause He is theknowerof all names.From Himthename can notbe hide.Butfrom the peopleand witches can…"